Hayden Has Eye on Bigger Prize as He Runs for Reelection

Assemblyman Tom Hayden is running for a fifth term in the Legislature this fall, but it might be his last. The Santa Monica Democrat has his eyes on a bigger prize two years down the road.

Confident that he will win reelection in his politically safe Westside district, Hayden’s top political goal this year is to place a sweeping environmental protection initiative on the November ballot.

The measure calls for phasing out use of cancer-causing pesticides, eliminating chemicals that destroy the Earth’s ozone layer, imposing strict controls on discharge of toxic wastes into the ocean, banning offshore oil drilling in state waters and creating an oil-spill prevention and cleanup program.

The initiative also would establish the elective post of environmental advocate with a mandate to protect California’s air, water and land. Hayden acknowledges that such a highly visible, statewide office would be appealing.

After eight years in the Assembly, the veteran activist is looking ahead to higher office. “I said when I ran in 1982 that I would serve for eight or 10 years, if I was lucky enough to be reelected, and then I would take another look,” Hayden said in a recent interview.

“I certainly feel an urge to have a greater impact, but I am not restless,” he said. “I feel that I am effective and that I have a full challenge every day when I get up.”

The 50-year-old lawmaker acknowledges that changes in the political landscape between now and 1992 could provide him with new career options.

If the initiative passes, the environmental advocate post would be open.

And if Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) gives up his congressional seat to run for the U.S. Senate, Hayden could enter the race for Congress in a district that overlaps with much of Hayden’s Assembly district.

For now, Hayden is noncommittal.

“Much as I would like to shape my own future, I think it’s more true that the future takes care of itself,” he said. “All these changes in ’92 are going to determine what the options are.”

Seated in his downtown Santa Monica office, Hayden joked that he doesn’t “rule out any option the press poses for me.”

After Proposition 103 passed last year, there was much speculation that he would run for the newly elective post of state insurance commissioner.

“The insurance thing was an office that was running after me for a while,” he said. But Hayden said he did not want to spend a year running for the office and four years locked in battle with the insurance industry.

“You can visualize yourself spending every day arguing with people who are wearing green eyeshades or who just got off the plane from New York at $200 an hour to fight you in court. It’s hard to imagine doing something.”

Although the environmental initiative has yet to qualify for the ballot and already has sparked a counter-initiative from agricultural interests, Hayden said “the environmental advocate would have an easier time” than the insurance commissioner.

If history is any guide, Hayden should have little difficulty in his bid for another two-year term in the Assembly.

The 44th Assembly District, which includes Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Venice, West Los Angeles, Century City and the Palms area, is nearly 60% Democratic in voter registration.

Hayden was reelected to a fourth term in November, 1988, with 61% of the vote, soundly defeating Republican Gloria Stout for the second time.

Stout, a Pacific Palisades camera store owner, said she will run again this year. She will face Fred Beteta, a veteran member of the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees, in the GOP primary in June.